My personal favorite of the weapons I've tooled around with is the Rock-It Launcher. It is possible to get this within the first hour of leaving the vault. Of course, first you'll have to buy the blueprints for it at a cost that is out of most early player's price ranges. Then you'll have to find the parts to build it, which could cost you even more if you can't scavenge the parts yourself. Once you have the launcher, though, it will be hours before you switch to anything else. Other games like Fallout 3 are populated with lots of junk to make the world feel more real. Things like ashtrays, toys, pots and pans, and books are often scattered around the world and free to be picked up by the player. But why should you? It's just worthless junk to carry around. Not so with the Rock-It Launcher. This weapon can be loaded with just about any piece of crap you find. Instead of a world of junk, you now have a world of limitless ammunition. Say, for instance, you come across a pile of rotting body parts. Take a few arms out of the pile and you've got yourself some ammo for the Rock-It Launcher. Yes, you can kill people with high-speed body parts. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more satisfying than loading the Rock-It Launcher up with teddy bears and killing somebody by shooting it into their face at slow motion.

What is it about flame throwers that makes them so damn cool?

But perhaps flinging garbage at unsuspecting citizens isn't your cup of tea. That's OK. I won't hold it against you. There are other options. Just out of the Vault, you'll find yourself with simple weapons. There's the 10mm pistol as the standard fallback. It's effective against things like Mole Rats, Blow Flys, and basic Raiders, but doesn't pack much punch or pizzazz. If you like weapons, you'll want to look for something better like a scoped .44 Magnum, a Sawed Off Shotgun, or a Hunting Rifle. Most of the basic guns will use 10mm ammunition which is quite plentiful throughout the game while the guns with a higher caliber of shot will have a limited number of rounds early on.

When you run out of ammo, and you probably will, you can revert back to some melee weapons. This is just as satisfying in VATS as long range combat, believe it or not. Bethesda modeled the slow-motion attack after Zack Snyder's 300 and it looks spectacular. Clubbing foes with baseball bats or police batons is hilarious, but you'll want something sharp in your hands. I grabbed a Ripper, a small one-handed chainsaw, and took a radiation-poisoned dog's head straight off. Or there's the Chinese Military Leader's Sword. As Insider Editor-in-Chief Dave Clayman described it, "That was badass. I chopped &(#*$'s up." We weren't able to find it, but many of the game's makers we spoke to called out the Powerfist, a mechanical hand that amplifies your punching strength, as their favorite melee weapon.

I prefer the big guns though. These are their own category of weapon with an associated skill and will make any gamer that loves chaos giddy. The Flamer, a highly effective flame thrower, can be found early on with ample ammunition scattered throughout the world. Light a poor sap on fire and he'll keep burning and taking damage over time while you laugh and point. Within the first 6 hours of playing, I managed to amass an arsenal that included a missile launcher, a personal nuke launcher, and a chaingun. I could only afford one nuke to put in my launcher, but boy-oh-boy was that a lot of fun.

You may technically be able to beat Fallout 3 in 75 minutes if you have all of the inside knowledge that the people who made the game do, but you'd be missing all of the fun the awesome weapons bring to the table. I sat down with the game for six hours and didn't even come close to seeing every tool of destruction. I know because I had just made it to the quest that gives you the blueprints for the Railspike Gun and heard of the Nuka Grenade (pickpocket someone and leave one of those behind for maximum yuks).

The Railspike Gun can stick people into walls.

It's a rare occurrence to find an RPG with as much freedom as Fallout 3 that keeps the combat exciting. With VATS and a wonderfully imaginative set of weapons, that's exactly what you get. Stick around IGN as Fallout 3 week continues over the next four days.